Annunciator.



0. M. LEICH.

ANNUNCIATOR.

APPLICATION FILED AuG.I8, 1913.

1,144,605.. Patented June 29, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Hllllllll .HMIIIIIII i lil r III THE NORRIS PETERS C0.. PHOTO-LITHU., WASHINGTON. U. L'.

0. M. LEICH.

ANNUNCIAT-OR. APPLICATION FILED Auqfl, 191s.

1,144,605. Patented June 29, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Oscan M, LEIOII, or GENOA, ILLINOIS, AssIeNoR vro ORacaAr'r, Lurcrr ELECTRIC COMPANY, or GENOA, ILLINOIS.

.ANNUNCIATOR.

mageos.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 29, 1915.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, OscAr. M LEICH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Genoa, in the county of Dekalb and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Annunciators, of which the following is a full, clear, conoise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to annunciators and has for its object the provision of an improved relay annunciator, by which I mean an annunciator which may not only Operate a drop shutter, but which also has means to give or indicate code signals. In the operation, for instance, of small exchanges where the night operator is not constantly on duty, but only responds to a call, it is desirable that the operator be informed whether he is wanted or not whenever` a call enters the ofice. It may be stated that these smaller exchanges, in additionto the local lines entering therein, which are provided with but one telephone, also serve as a terminus for a great many partylines. On these party lines it is generally the custom that whenever one ring is given central is wanted., and whenever two or more rings or any given code signal is transmitted over the line that one of the other telephones on the same line is wanted and not the central operator. It is therefore desirable to have means which apprise the operator what/character of signal is coming into the oiiice. In the general forms of annunciators or drops, the drops are provided with what are understood as night bell contacts, and whenever a shutter falls, the night bell rings. It is, of course, plain that the shutter will respond whether one ring is being given or whether a plurality of rings or a code signal is being transmitted over the line. Consequently the operator would not know by hearing the night bell alone what kind of signal is coming in and the operator would thus be called upon to'` answer each such call to ascertain if wanted. Of course, a great many of these calls at night are between parties on the same line, and it is useless for the operator to respond to these calls.

My invention contemplates a provision of means whereby a signal, which I may also call a night bell, responds directly in accordance with the signals transmitted over cept that -particular call which indicates one ring. My improved annunciator structure is of such a character and has means pro-y vided whereby the drops may be readily changed from the ordinary night bell to the code ringing type.

I will explain one form my invention more in detail by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 14 is a side view, partly in section, of an annunciator unit provided in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a top view of a bank, portions being broken away to reveal features of construction; Fig. 3 is a rear view of a portion of the mounting plate; Fig. 4 is a side view of my improved drop structure; Fig. 5 is a rear view of a mounting plate adapted to receive a plurality of units; and Fig. 6 is a view diagrammatically to illustrate the circuit conditions involved.

My improved structure I have shown herein as forming part of a combined drop and ]ack structure, consisting of a mounting plate l, to which all of the partsare mount ed and from which all the parts except those specifically referred to later are fully insulated. This insulation is done preferably by means of the insulating strips 2, 3 and 4, and through the use of insulated screws for mounting purposes, all as is readily apparent. To the front plate l and extending rearwardly thereof I have a framework 5, which carries an actuating coil 6 and which also carries the spring-jack 7, the spring- Jack opening being suitably illustrated at 8. A drop shutter 9 is provided which is controlled by the shutter arm l0 secured to the armature 11. The framework 5 has side walls 6a, 6a between which the armature 11 is pivoted and which also carry a bridge 12 of non-magnetic material. This bridge oarries a pole piece 13 coperating with the core 14 of the coil structure 6. The bridge 12 also carries a second pole piece of magnetic material 15, which is shown as being bent into an Lshape, referring more particularly to Fig. l. This second pole piece 15 is adapted to coperate with an armature 16 pivotally mounted at 17 between the side walls 6, 6a. The armature l1 is pivotally of carrying out Cri mounted at 18 between the side walls 6a, 6a. The armature 16 is iixedly secured to the pivoted element 19, which pivoted'element carries an insulated spring 20. This spring is more clearly shown in Figs. el and 6. This spring being fixedly secured to the movable element 19, moves in response to the actuation of the armature 16 and carries a contact point 21 at its lower extremity adapted to co-act with a contact point 22 electrically connected to the front plate 1, as shown more clearly in Fig. 6. Platinum contact points are, of course, preferably provided for these contactfmalring elements. Thus, whenever the armature 16 is energized, contact is established between the elements 21 and 22. The other extremity of the spring 20 is electrically connected by means of a spiral conductor 23 with a spring 24, which spring is insulatingly mounted on the frame-- work 5, as more clearly shown in Fig. 1.`

This spring 2i is in electrical Contact with a conducting strip 25, insulatingly mounted upon the front plate 1. This conducting strip has depending connectors 26, 26, so that contact may be made therewith along the sides of the banks of drops and jacks, for which purposes screw connectors 27 are provided, byy which I mean that the banks of drops are mounted in a board and instead of making aconnection to each individual Contact .element 2ifrom without the board, itis onlynecessary to connect the outside wiring at the binding posts. 27, to reach each drop mechanism. This contact strip 25 is insulatingly mounted upon the front plate, as stated, but there is also interposed between this plate 25 and the front plate 1 a second conducting strip 28, which second conducting strip is also insulated from the front plate 1, but which conducting strip 28 has downwardly extending fingers 29 projecting into an opening l30 provided in the front plate. These downwardly projecting fingers 29 are normally used in connection with a linger 31 of the shutter 9 for the ordinary night bell purposes, the fingers 31 engaging the fingers 29 whenever the shutter 9 is released by the arm 10. Connectors 32 are provided at the opposite ends of the strip 28' so that connection may be made thereto at the opposite sides of the bank of drops and jaclrs. It will thus be seen that either vthe strip 25 or the strip 28 may be connected in circuit so that the drop 'structure may either give the ordinary night bell indication or else give a code signal indication,"as desired.

' I' might point out here thatthe arm 34C is` provided witha lug 33, by means of which 'the shutter 9 is automatically restored whenever a plug enters the spring-V ]aclr structure, the lug 33 bemglraised so that the arm 34:, pressing against the rounded extremity 35, pushes the shutter upthus engaged by the finger 31 when the drop y shutter 9 of Fig. 1 has fallen to its actuated position. This, however, will not cause the operation of a night bell so long as no battery, source of current and signal are connected to the plate 28. Whenever the arma-` ture 11 is actuated,the armature 16is also actuatedl and this completes a circuit between theV elements 21 and; 22 which conforms directly to the number of rings or more specifically to the particular code signal received by thecoil structure 6. Thus to use the relay armature, electricalconnection is made with theI plate 25, and this is preferably done as shown diagrammatically in F 6,in which case the circuit can be traced as follows: from the battery 36 through con-ductor 37, relay 38, `conductor 39, front plate` 1, contactw22, contact 21, spring 20, coil conductor 23, spring 24, conducting plate 25 and conductor 40, back to the `battery 36. This energizes the relay 38 to thereby actuate its armature Li1 to close circuit through the local signal 42 and battery. 43. I use the relay 38 becausev itl will hold up between impulses even though thearmature 16 might vibrate in response to the incoming signal current, which is usually of an alternating or pulsating charac-V ter. l, of course, have the spring 20 which already to a large extent compensates for this possible fluttering of the armature 16, as the spring action of this sipringf20 as sists` in maintaining amore or less continuous closure of the contacts 21 and 22. However, the `relay 38may be more or less slow i acting, if desired, so as to maintain a more perfect closure of the local signal circuitthan would otherwise be possible.

y From what has beenv described' the nature of my invention will be clear. also be readily apparent that the particular structure and arrangement set: forth serves for illustrative' purposes without thereby` limiting the broad character of the inv`e`n-` tion. 'i 5 Having, however, thus described one form which myinvention may take, what I claim as new andA desire to -se'cure by Letters Patent is:` j` A y 1. `An annunciator for telephone switchboards having an actuating coil, `two signals under the control thereof, and means interposed between said signals and said coil to operate one signal irrespective of the nature of the energization of said actuating coil and tooperate the other signal in accordance with a code signaling indication.

2. An annunciator for telephone switchboards having a front plate, a framework mounted rearward of said front plate and insulated therefrom, an, actuating coil carried by said framework, a shutter, an armature under the control of said coil to control said shutter, a second armature mounted upon said framework and controlled by said coil, a contact spring carried by said second armature and insulated therefrom, and a conducting element mounted upon but insulated from said framework and electrically connected with said spring.

3. An annunciator for telephone switchboards having a front plate, a framework mounted rearward of said front plate and insulated therefrom, an actuating coil carried by said framework, 'a shutter, an armature under the control of said coil to control said shutter, a second armature mounted,

upon said framework and controlled by said coil, a contact spring carried by said second armature and insulated therefrom, a conducting element mounted upon but insulated from said framework and electrically connected with said spring, and a conducting strip mounted upon but insulated from said front plate with which said conducting element has electrical contact.

4. An annunciator for telephone switchboards having a front plate, a framework mounted rearward of said front plate and insulated therefrom, an actuating coil carried by said framework, a shutter, an armature Lmder the control of said coil to control said shutter, a second armature mounted upon said framework and controlled by said coil, a contact spring carried by said second armature and insulated therefrom, a conducting element mounted upon but insulated from said framework and electrically connected with said spring, a conducting strip mounted upon but insulated from said front plate with which said conducting element has electrical contact, and a contact element having electrical connection with said front plate adapted to coperate with said contact spring.

5. An annunciator bank for telephone switchboards having a drop shutter, a common conducting plate for said bank adapted for electrical engagement with said shutter when said shutter is released, a second common conducting plate for said bank, an actuating coil, and means under the control of said actuating coil to control said shutter and to control the electrical circuit through said second conducting plate 6. An annunciator bank having an actuating coil, two signals under the control thereof, and means interposed between said signals and said coil to operate one signal irrespective of the nature of the energization of said actuating coil and to operate the other signal in accordance with a code signaling indication, said means including two armatures for said coil, one for each signal.

7. An annunciating system of the character described having an actuating coil, a shutter adapted when actuated to convey a permanent signal, an armature under the control of said coil to control said shutter, a second armature under the control of said coil, a local signal circuit controlled by said second armature, and means vinterposed between said second armature and said local signal circuit to nullify the iiuttering actuation of said second aforesaid armature in response to a fluctuating current to thereby get a steady control of said local signal circuit.

8. An annunciating system of the character described having an actuating coil, a shutter adapted when actuated to convey a permanent signal, an armature under the control of said coil to control said shutter, a second code responsive armature under the control of said coil, a local signal circuit controlled by said second code responsive signal, and means interposed between said second code responsive armature and said local signal circuit to nullify the fluttering actuation of said second aforesaid code responsive armature in response to a fluctuating current to thereby get a steady control of said local signal circuit.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 19th day of July, A. D., 1913.

OSCAR M. LEICH.

Witnesses:

HAZEL ANN JONES, A. LYDA JONES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of IE'atents, Washington, D. C. 

